"This is going after 200 people, maybe 300. There is more of us than there are of them," -Zigmond Kozicki

SAGINAW, MI — A group of about 35 people gathered together Thursday, March 22, to brainstorm ideas for addressing the unusually high rate of violent crime in Saginaw.

The ideas thrown out by members of the recently-created Saginaw Rising Steering Committee meeting ranged from a new approach to education to an attempt to build a basketball hall of fame museum on Saginaw's riverfront.

U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Matthew Blakemore, who recently moved to Saginaw, hosted the group Thursday at the U.S. Army Reserve Center in Buena Vista Township.

Blakemore said he thinks individuals can make the biggest difference in the lives of Saginaw's children.

"Everybody is talking about big things," Blakemore said. "We need government money, government, government. What have you done to take a little person under your wing?"

Former Mayor Joyce Seals, also a board member of the Ezekiel Project organization, said many of the efforts being undertaken by the new group are already being pursued by other groups in Saginaw.

"We've got to bring all the pieces together to make it work," Seals said.

Teaching traumatized students

Two local elementary school teachers stood up during the meeting to talk about an approach they began using in their classrooms in December 2012 that has had a significant impact on their students.

Micsak said Saginaw has a serious problem with children who have faced trauma of one type of another. He said he views the problem as a "public health crisis" rather than a crime problem.

Both teachers said their young students now are able to control their emotions and solve one another's problems when frustrations present themselves.

"It's absolutely amazing to see the transition," Kartz said. "I tried everything with them over the years. These are kids that wanted to rip heads off."

Hull said the new approach involved a dramatic change to the teaching approach including giving more loving attention, treating each child differently and the addition of things like "afternoon nap time" and regular Tai Chi sessions.

"Instead of us escalating the situation when they're having behavior problems, we're deescalating it," she said. "It's important that people know it's not just letting them get away with things. It is just a different approach."

Drawing people to Saginaw

Randy Rogers, a basketball coach and guidance counselor at Valley Lutheran High School, said he has seen successes in three other cities where he has lived — Cleveland, St. Louis and Rockford, Ill. — by the construction of a "centerpiece" on each city's riverfront.

Rogers said he is pursuing the same idea for Saginaw, centered around bringing a state basketball hall of fame to draw people downtown.

"What would bring Saginaw back, I think, would be to have a basketball hall of fame here," he said. "It would be amazing."

Many people have expressed interest "ideologically," Rogers said, but he is still looking for someone interested in investing the millions it would take to make such a project a reality.

Stephanie Baiyasi, who produced the Saginaw Rising documentary with Zigmond Kozicki, announced an expansion of the Saginaw "WonderFest" event that seeks to draw Saginaw native Stevie Wonder back home. The August event will add basketball and beach volleyball tournaments and a river run this year Baiyasi said.

The goal — to get Saginaw off the 10 most violent, per captia, cities in the nation in two years — is achievable if everyone in the entire Great Lakes Bay Region bands together to address the problem, Kozicki said.

"If we put all our interest in this and share this message we can achieve this," he said. "This is not rocket science. This is going after 200 people, maybe 300. There is more of us than there are of them."